


Not A Place, But A Feeling

by sociallychallengednerd



Series: Batfam Hogwarts!AU [2]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, Gen, Gen or Pre-Slash, Kid Fic, No beta we die like mne, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, SuperBat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-20
Updated: 2020-05-20
Packaged: 2021-03-02 19:13:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,839
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24291874
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sociallychallengednerd/pseuds/sociallychallengednerd
Summary: A small snapshot of Dick’s first year at Hogwarts.
Series: Batfam Hogwarts!AU [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1711837
Comments: 4
Kudos: 38





	Not A Place, But A Feeling

**Author's Note:**

> I’m tired of looking at this in my drafts so here we go. 
> 
> I tried to write this one in a different style to better capture Dick’s voice as a young boy, but I’m not sure how that turned out. 
> 
> Hope you all like it though!

Saying goodbye at the train station was hard. Dick’s eyes were watering but he fought back the tears. Tim was upset enough without Dick crying too. Jason always liked to put on a brave face, but he wasn’t really fooling anyone, and when Dick pulled him into a tight hug Jason didn’t even bother to fight him on it. The sound of the train whistle sent a jolt of panic through Dick’s chest. This was really it. Then Bruce was pulling him into his arms and Dick couldn’t help but melt a bit. He loved Bruce’s hugs. His arms were so big, and warm, and it made him feel undeniably safe. 

But all too soon the final whistle was blowing and Dick was forced to say his final goodbyes before he was running to the train. It seemed to loom over him ominously as Dick climbed aboard clutching tight to his trunk. He walked past compartment after compartment full of people who looked so impossibly older than him that Dick couldn’t seem to fathom that they were attending the same school. At this point Dick just wanted to find a nice compartment to himself. 

Was it too late to start writing his first letter home? It probably was. 

It was the color red that caught his eye. The inside of the compartment looked like it could have been set aflame Two boys and a girl sat there their flaming hair catching in the light from the window. The boys were in plain, unsorted first year robes while the girl wore Ravenclaw robes. She couldn’t have been much older than them though. Tentatively Dick knocked peeking his head inside. 

“Hi, would you mind if I joined you guys?” 

One of the boys grinned at him, “of course, come on in.” 

Wally West, he learned, was a half blood on his father’s side; he spent most of the year living with his Uncle Barry though, who was apparently the flight instructor and head of Hufflepuff house at Hogwarts. Roy Harper Queen was the adopted son of Oliver Queen, an interesting fact that had him and Roy chatting about what it was like being adopted into pureblood society the way they had been. The girl was Barbara Gordon, daughter of Jim Gordon, she was a third year Ravenclaw, and possibly the prettiest girl Dick had ever seen. 

The train ride passed quickly from there laughing and chatting together. Dick and Roy both bought enough snacks from the trolley when it passed for all of them to share. Eventually the boys moved to the topic of their impending sorting. Roy thought he might end up in Gryffindor like Oliver had been. Wally had just shrugged that he’d be happy most anywhere. 

They said their goodbyes to Barbara after they got off the train and she wished them all luck on their sorting. The walk to the lake was, it was surreal. The Castle loomed high above them in the dark lit up from within. It was beautiful, if foreboding. Dick found himself sticking close to Wally and Roy. He wished Bruce could be here with him right now. Dick had always felt like he could never be scared so long as he had Bruce at his back. 

The boat ride was fine though. The surface of the lake shone black reflecting the stars and the lights from their lanterns. Roy swore he saw something move in the lake, but Wally and Dick laughed him off and teased him when he moved as far from the edge of the boat as he could. 

Once they cleared the lake they were met by a tall man with warm brown skin and long dark hair. He introduced himself as Deputy Headmaster Curry, the Care of Magical Creatures Professor as he waved his wand safely shoring their boats. Before leading them away from the lakes edge Dick watched him reach into the leather bag hanging at his side. He pulled out what Dick thought for a moment was a large fistful of raw meat before he drew back and with a surprising amount of force threw it into the center of the lake where it disappear from sight into the black with a wet slap. Dick stepped closer to his new friends disturbed and more than a little confused. It seemed like Dick wasn’t the only one feeling that way. 

“Uh, Professor? Why did you do that?” It was a tall girl, her dark hair long and wave around her shoulders making the blues of her eyes stand out as she narrowed them up at the man in front of her. 

Professor Curry turned to look down at the girl. His eyes darting to the dark water. “Meat, for the giant squid.” With a grunt the man turned and started walking the path back to the castle leaving the castle. 

Dick winced as the sharp elbow Roy sent into his ribs with a hissed, “I told you so.” Dick was consoled by the back that Wally got the same treatment. 

Dick had never seen anything as big and as grand as the great hall at Hogwarts. The Wayne manor had a great big ballroom, he, and Jason, and Tim liked to play there and listen to the echo of their voices off the cavernous walls and high ceilings. Dick had always thought the Wayne ballroom was the biggest, most beautiful place he’d ever seen, but the great hall could easily hold two of the Wayne ballrooms. Dick wasn’t sure where to look. The ceiling was a beautiful starry night and candles hung in the air. Dick noticed all this while trying his best to block out all the eyes that seemed to follow them as the small group moved to the front of the room where Professor Curry stood beside a ragged black hat in his hand. Dick watched Wally give a small wave to a blonde man sitting at the head table that Dick assumed was his Uncle Barry. He gave a kind smile and waved back; Dick decided he seemed nice. 

Dick was only half paying attention to the sorting, most of his thoughts were preoccupied with the growing layer of sweat coating his palms, but slowly the group of first years grew smaller around them. The girl from the lake, Donna Troy, was placed in Hufflepuff and Dick watched her grin as the hat was pulled off her head and she hurried to the cheering yellow table. There were only a few of them left now. 

Roy was the first of their little group to be called up. Dick was standing close enough to feel the way his whole body tensed. Wally reached out a quiet hand squeezing his shoulder before Roy was nervously making his way to the front. The hat sat on his head for about a minute before loudly declaring, “Ravenclaw”. Roy was grinning as he practically ran to find a place to sit at his new table. 

“Wayne, Richard Grayson.” 

Dick felt like he might be sick. Wally’s hand was a warm point at his back before he stepped up the steps. He could feel all the eyes of the room on him. Dick had never been so bothered by the attention before. He clenched his hands into tight fists in his robes as he climbed up on the stool. The hat slipped down over his eyes and Dick raised an instinctive hand to push it up only to jump as a voice began in his head. 

“Hmmm, a good heart, I see. A desire to help others, but a nasty temper.” Dick’s hands tightened in his robes. “A strong love for family though, you love yours a great deal, and a sense of fairness and justice, better be,”

“HUFFLEPUFF!”

XXX

Dick fell in love with the Hufflepuff common room at the first sight of it. It was warm and cozy with bright green plants and flowers on the tables and shelves and a round brick fireplace. He curled up on the rug in front of the fire once everyone had already gone to bed and started on his first letter home. He wrote on and on about how much he already missed them, that he had been sorted into Hufflepuff, about the people he had met, and about the common room, and the lake, and how much he couldn’t wait for his brothers to join him here, and anything else he could think to write about until his eyes kept drooping and he had written a full two pages to send tomorrow. 

The next day's classes were sadly not as exciting as Dick had hoped. It was a lot of the same thing over and over again about what was expected from them as students and blah, blah, blah. Though, it was pretty neat to finally put faces to some of the names Dick heard from Bruce when he spoke about the Order like: Hal Jordan, the Transfiguration Professor; J’onn J’onzz, the Potions Professor; and even Arthur Curry, the Care of Magical Creatures Professor. 

Defense against the Dark Arts though was interesting for the start and only got more so as the class went on. The Professor was an American man. He was a big man, but somehow his suit still seemed to dwarf him, hanging off his shoulders. He had bright blue eyes behind large clunky, glasses that seemed to take up his whole face. He introduced himself as Professor Kent, and Dick found himself watching the way the man’s mouth curled around each name as he read off the role in his slow drawling accent. 

“Richard Grayson Wayne.” There was a heasistance in the way he spoke Dick’s name, like the words seemed to trip him up. 

“Present,” Dick raised a hand. 

Professor Kent’s eyes found him sharp and blue behind his glasses. “Wayne, you’re one of Bruce’s boys then?” That caught Dick’s attention. 

“You know Bruce?”

“Oh yes,” Kent laughed, there was a smile to his lips now. “He was a good friend of mine during the war. We worked together in the Order.”

The question was on the tip of Dick’s tongue before someone sitting behind him beat him to it. “What’s an American doing fighting in the Order?” 

“The right thing,” the Professor answered firmly.

Dick thought it sounded a little silly. Like the sort of thing someone would say in those old black and white movies he liked to watch, him and Bruce and his brothers would sit through with minimal complaining, well except Jason, but Jason complained about everything so that hardly counted. Dick decided that he rather liked this strange, earnest man who seemed to speak so fondly of Bruce. 

“But that is enough talk about that. Now, to start with class.” Kent clapped his hands together a sunny grin on his face. That was fine; Dick could wait. 

Once class ended Dick waved Roy on without him and waited in his seat for the rest of the class to clear out. It took a moment for Kent to notice him standing in front of the chalkboard stacking his books in place. 

“Excuse me, Professor Kent?” 

“Ah, Richard, what can I do for you?” 

Dick wrinkled his nose, “just Dick’s fine, please. I wanted to ask you about Bruce. You said you used to be close, but I’ve never heard him mention you.”

Kent’s smile dimmed a bit at that and there was a melancholy edge to his expression. “No, I’m not surprised to hear that. Bruce and I didn’t end on the best terms.” He paused for a moment looking Dick over and whatever he saw on his face prompted him to continue. “He was upset with me after the war because I went back home. He said I was leaving all the hard work of making things better for everyone else, and as is so often the case with Bruce, he was right in the end. So I came back.”

“Is Bruce still mad at you then?”

“I don’t really know. I haven’t talked to him since I’ve been back really.” The Professor shrugged.

“Well you should. I think Bruce should have more friends.”

Kent laughed loud and sunny. “Well, I’ll certainly keep that in mind. Was there anything else you wanted to ask me about, Dick?”

Dick shifted his feet. He didn’t know if this was something he should be asking about, but this was someone who was friends with Bruce, right? And, he knew him during the war and spoke of him so familiarly. Dick had to ask didn’t he?

“Bruce is,” Dick pursed his lips, screwing his face up as he thought, “sometimes he gets so weird and quiet, or jumpy, and you have to be really careful if you wake him up. He always thinks something awful is about to happen. He hates taking us out places together, and always makes us stay right where he can see. Has he always,” Dick broke off, “was he like that when you knew him too?”

The smile was completely gone from Kent’s face now. He looked sad, slipping his glasses off his face to pinch the bridge of his nose. He set his glasses aside on his table, and Dick took a moment to marvel at how much different he looked without them taking up his whole face. 

“Why don’t you take a seat, Dick?” The professor motioned to his own chair taking a seat on the edge of his desk. Dick felt a strange little trepidation sitting down in his professor’s chair behind his desk. 

“Sir, I don’t have long before I need to get to Herbology.”

Professor Kent waved him off. “Don’t worry about that. I can write you a note. I’m sure you won’t miss anything too terribly important on the first day of Herbology, just don’t tell your Professor I said that.

“Bruce,” Kent sighed, “is a complicated man. He always has been. He was about your age when he lost his parents in the first war, you know. A lot of his childhood was spent living under the fear of that war and not being able to do anything about it. That war lasted a lot longer than this one did. It took its toll on him. I met Bruce during the second war and the whole time I’d known him he was... a particularly paranoid man. I can’t speak for how he was before I met him, but I don’t know if Bruce is a man that will ever be truly able to accept peace.”

Dick had to resist the urge to draw his knees up to his chest. He felt like it might be rude putting his feet in his Professor’s chair. Instead he settled for tugging at the corner of his robes worrying at them in his lap. 

“Is there anything I can do to help?”

Kent was smiling again. “You’re a good kid, Dick. Bruce is lucky to have you, but no. This is something that Bruce has to deal with himself, and it certainly isn’t your responsibility to take care of him.”

Dick nodded, it wasn’t the answer he’d be hoping for, but he felt a bit better having talked to someone about it. He had talked about it a bit with Jason before, but that was different. This was an adult, and someone that had known Bruce before Dick had ever been there. 

Dick looked back up at Professor Kent with renewed determination. “I still think you should talk to Bruce again. You should write him. I mean, you came back, didn’t you? So he won’t be mad at you anymore.”

Kent smiled again, “I’ll definitely think about it.” He stood turning to root around the mess of his desk. “Now, let’s see about writing you that note, hmm?”

XXX

A week later found Dick resoundingly carving out a space for himself at Hogwarts. He wrote to Bruce and his brothers weekly. Bruce had informed him that Jason and Tim had started getting along better now. Apparently Tim had discovered a liking for muggle fantasies, so Jason had taken to reading the Hobbit to him before bed. It was bittersweet for Dick, happy as he was to know his brothers were alright, he wished he could be there too. As the weeks went by though Dick found his homesickness wasn’t so bad. 

Every afternoon after classes he would sit with his friends in the courtyard playing gob stones or exploding snaps. Barbara Gordon even joined them sometimes. 

Dick enjoyed his classes too. Herbology and Potions class were kind of a nightmare, but manageable. Professor Kent’s class was always fun though, and he realized he had a real talent for defensive magics, as Bruce was very happy to hear. 

Soon weekly letters turned to monthly ones, and Dick began to sleep easier in his dorms. He hadn’t expected that he would dislike Hogwarts, per say, but he certainly hadn’t expected it to become another home to him.

**Author's Note:**

> For those who were wondering  
> (Literally no one was wondering but this will probably never come up in a story so I wanted to mention it here)
> 
> Alfred is in fact a squib in this universe. He has just enough magic to be a skilled potioneer. Other than that his backstory is exactly the same as cannon. He’s still a badass with a special ops background because its canon that muggle governments know about the wizarding world, and I imagine that agents who have in-depth knowledge of that community without necessarily being apart of it would be a huge asset. 
> 
> Just a fun little concept that will likely not come up again. lol


End file.
